Syprik, I am in complete agreement with you as far as quality is concerned. there are advantages to both. if you build one you do get quality especially with the components used from the motherboards etc. I don't think you will find an Abit or Asus motherboard in a prefab dell. You also get more(quality and control) for what you pay by building your own. but.... the prefab is so much easier. if you ever have a problem you just call dell and let them handle it. When I was an enthusiest with this a while back I can't beleive now all the countless hours I spent trying to tweak and fix small/large problems or just make it run faster(I once soldered the cpu socket pins to get p3 working). i don't know how it is right now but back in the day computers from gateway and hp etc had bad reputations for being crappy but dell in my experience has always been solid. well anyways I just bought a refurbished dell and when i compared i just could not beat the deal by building one though i probably would have built if the prices for refurb were not so advantageous. ok im going to stop blabbing.
I get paid about $135/hr for my full time job I spend 1/2hr/day exercising 1 hr/day for sex with wife 2-3 hrs/day playing with my kids 1/2 hr reading et posts Damn Im losing millions by doing all the above things. According to your logic i should stop doing all the above
Did you say E-Signal? Without a doubt the WORST data-feed out there. THAT'S your problem. Not your computer!
I probably know more about POWER SUPPLIES than most people in this Forum. And yes, while they are not the most glamorous component on a computer, they are without a doubt VERY important! That having been said, I think that you are sadly mistaken about the performance of Dell power supplies in general, and this is coming from someone that has a PC Power & Cooling "Silencer 410" in their Dell Dimension 8300 for the past 5 years. ( 5 year warranty ). Oh . . .and as for the 525 watt piece of "junk" that comes with my Dell T3400 . . . it has the same three +12V rated rails ( at 18 amps ) as the Corsair 620 watt unit that you have highlighted. Again, if you think that you actually need a 620 watt power supply ( $189.99 ) with a +3.3V rail at 24 amps and a +5v rail at 30 amps for a TRADING computer, then you really need a reality check. A PC Power & Cooling "Silencer-470" would be more than sufficient with a single +12v rail at 26 amps and a +5v rail at 32 amps and a +3.3v rail at 28 amps . . . all for just $75.00 Overkill is overkill.
This thread is somewhat similar to a conversation I had with one friend of mine who got a new BMW. Being a car enthusiast, he made sure to let me know that my Acura is a piece of boring, FWD turd. And I told him that it's never broken down on me, and it gets me from point A to point B just fine. What's wrong with Dell T3400 workstation? I thought it was a very decent system that is more than enough for just about any trading needs.
Maybe i am missing something but i fail to see where an older copy of XP PRO can be used on a new build. MSFT will shut it down if certain devices are changed. I do know if you get OEM xp pro etc, it is for that machine and that machine only. I still get OEM on all new builds because i leave the operating system in an older box. I put VISTA Business in the new box and it had a couple issues with drivers at first but all if fine after you take the time to get right drivers. Yes VISTA is nothing whiz bang but i still feel it is best to buy latest . The bugs will go away and then you have the newest in the box. I have 4G memory in the box and at first the speed seemed a little slow but now all is dandy. FWIW E8400 overclocked on the water cooled box, 4.2 mhz was a snap to hit.......i turned it down to run at 3.6MHZ with zero increase in the cpu voltage. Reliable as your dog will not leave you. ..
There's nothing wrong with T3400. And even the base unit offered, E4300 CPU, DDR2-667 RAM, 7200 RPM hard drive... is more than up to the task of trading for nearly everybody. However, it doesn't accommodate the fastest RAM and can't be overclocked. Otherwise, it's PLENTY of machine for all but the gamer who want's "the fastest". That being said, the T3400 can accommodate a very fast quad core CPU, and has an X38 mobo with 2, PCIEx16 slots... so it could accommodate a pair of Nvidia 8800's in SLI. It's still can be very fast if you want.
A retail version can be transferred to a new machine over and again.... just not supposed to be used on more than one machine at once.